Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – Erigor and Lullaby

"Erigor!" Natsu roared as he and Happy practically barreled into the Wind Mage from behind. Happy's 'Max Speed' with his Aera Magic had proven to be much faster than Erigor in flight speed. A rock-encased fist slammed into the Dark Mage's back and sent him hurtling into the ground below.

"Grrkh!" Erigor choked on his own breath as he hit the ground harshly. 'Where the hell did this Fairy Tail trash come from?!' He questioned internally as he forced himself to his feet.

"We aren't finished." Natsu glared at the former Ace of Eisenwald.

"How the hell did you catch up to me? You should be trapped inside my Wind Wall!" Erigor growled out as he readied his scythe in his right hand and prepared to cast a spell with his left hand.

"I followed your scent outside before you cast it." Natsu stated plainly as he took a stance.

"Storm Bringer!" Erigor made a few quick motions with his left hand before pointing in Natsu's direction. The wind whipped up into a powerful gale before spiraling around itself into a powerful tornado-like spell.

"Earth Wall!" Natsu surrounded himself with a dome of rock and earth. The howling winds battered the dome but couldn't break through the defensive magic. "Earth Dragon's Burrowing Talons!" Natsu's hands and forearms were covered in stone that was shaped like the talons of a dragon. With ease he burrowed into the dirt and headed for Erigor. Erupting from the ground, Natsu didn't see Erigor at all.

"Fool! I don't have time to play with you!" Erigor laughed as he flew away, leaving Natsu on the ground unable to reach him.

"Happy!" Natsu called out loudly.

"Aye sir!" Happy blurred into action, seemingly from nowhere, and slammed into Erigor's face at speed.

"Arrgh!" Erigor grabbed his face, his nose bleeding from the blue cat's attack. His focus broken, the Dark mage plummeted out of the air. Just before he would have hit the ground a fierce whirlwind formed beneath him and slowed his descent until he landed safely on the ground. "You little shit! I'll kill you!"

"You still have me to deal with!" Natsu was already charging Erigor.

"Storm Wall!" Erigor cast another spell. Wind spun into a powerful, high-speed spiral in front of him and blocked Natsu's stone-coated fist. With the pink-haired Mage staggered back by his spell, Erigor raised his scythe and swung it at Natsu.

"Gotcha!" Natsu grinned savagely as his rock talons caught the scythe blade. With a sharp kick to Erigor's solar plexus, Natsu wrenched the weapon out of Erigor's hands.

"My scythe!" Erigor reached for the weapon but quickly used his Wind Magic to float away as the entire area surrounding Natsu erupted into lava! It was like watching a miniature volcano erupt as lava burst from the ground all around the Fairy Tail Mage.

"This scythe?" Natsu growled as the wooden shaft burst into flames and the metal of the blade turned red, then orange, and finally yellow as the steel softened and deformed under the heat. "You won't be needing it anymore." Natsu tossed the weapon into the pool of lava to be consumed.

"You bastard!" Erigor yelled with fury. "I'll kill you!" He initiated a new spell, bending his arms and pointing his hands towards the sky with his index and middle fingers extended. He placed his two index and middle fingers in an 'X' shape in front of him, aiming at Natsu. A halo of light surrounded his hands before he cast the spell. "EMERA BARAM!"

A colossal blast of Wind Magic was released from Erigor's crossed fingers. The wind screamed as it spun in dozens of directions at the same time. Each individual rotation moving at such speeds vacuums were formed around the conflicting air currents. To an outside observer it looked as if a massive, sideways tornado had just been fired at Natsu. The scale and width of the spell made it impossible to dodge at the range the two Mages were fighting.

"Natsu!" Happy called out in worry. Emera Baram was one of the highest tier Wind Magic spells there was. Only Mages that had truly mastered Wind Magic were able to cast that spell at all. For Erigor to be not only capable of it, but of using such a massive version of the spell was concerning.

"That's one Fairy Tail insect out of my way." Erigor breathed a little heavily at using one of his most powerful spells to such an extreme.

The land was devastated by the powerful Wind Magic spell. There was a massive trench from Erigor's position stretching out in both width and depth in a cone shape. The very ground that had been caught up in the spell had been reduced to dust flying through the air. Clearly both Emera Baram and Erigor 'The Shinigami' had earned their reputations.

"That would've hurt if it had hit me head on." Natsu's voice came from within the dust.

"No…that's not possible!" Erigor exclaimed when he heard the other Mage's voice. "That spell can turn steel into metal shavings! How can you be alive?!"

"I'm stronger than you." Natsu emerged from the dust revealing his body covered in full-body scales. These weren't real scales however. They were made from dark-grey stone. "Earth Dragon's Granite Scales." Natsu informed Erigor with a feral grin.

"I swear I'll kill you!" Erigor screamed at the other Mage. "On the name of Erigor 'The Shinigami' I will kill you!" The Dark Mage promised as he crossed his arms before him. Near instantly many air currents began to gather around him. The wind howled as it spiraled closer and closer around Erigor's body. Soon there was a miniature hurricane surrounding his entire body. "Storm Mail!"

"I guess you want to see which of our armors is stronger, huh?" Natsu deduced as Erigor swiped his hands towards Natsu.

"Storm Shred!" Erigor cast another spell. From his hurricane-like armor dozens upon dozens of sickle-like blades were launched at Natsu rapid-fire. The cutting wind blades barely left marks on Natsu's Granite Scales and the Dragon Slayer was already fed up with the Dark Mage.

"Magma Dragon's Roar!" Natsu's chest expanded as he took in a large amount of air. The pink-haired Mage then threw his head forward and blasted out a powerful stream of molten rock at Erigor. It was as if someone had focused the power of a volcanic eruption into a single beam of force! Erigor vanished into the lava as Natsu's spell tore across the land. When Natsu cut off the spell there was a large area before him that was now a burning wasteland of lava and fire. "Figures," Natsu noted as he walked right through the lava and flames as if they were nothing more than a warm summer breeze. "That spell cooled it off and kept it from touching you."

He walked up to a large, out of place, round basalt stone. With a punch he shattered the dome, revealing a slightly burnt and completely exhausted Erigor. The Dark Mage stared at Natsu in abject terror from his place on the only cool ground in the entire area. Without preamble, Natsu grabbed Erigor by the scarf around his neck and hauled him up to eye-level.

"Where is Lullaby?" Natsu growled at the silver-haired man.

"I-I…i-it's…Kageyama has it." Erigor was trembling as he looked into Natsu's slit, draconic eyes. This wasn't a human Mage! There was no way this pink-haired monster was human! No human could destroy his Storm Mail with a single spell!

"Who the hell is Kageyama and where are they?" Natsu demanded as smoke escaped his mouth.

"Clover Town! He's in Clover Town to kill the Guild Masters at their meeting!" Erigor spilled his guts as he saw the light of fire within Natsu's jaws. He was out of magical power. He'd die if he was hit with another spell from Natsu!

"Damn it!" Natsu slugged Erigor in the face, knocking the man out. The arrival of an icy breeze spreading across the area had Natsu looking behind him.

"Come on Natsu!" Gray was the source of the chill as his Ice Magic spread across the ground and cooled the lava field while snuffing out the flames. "We have to get to Clover Town!" Behind Gray, getting off a Magic Four-wheel Cart, were Erza, Cana, and Lucy.

"Earth Lock!" Natsu encased the unconscious Erigor in stone, leaving only the man's nose and mouth uncovered so that he could breathe. They'd come back for him later to turn him over to the Rune Knights. "Where are Mira and Lisanna?"

"They flew ahead already." Gray informed as Happy flew over to the group.

"Happy, can you fly all of us to Clover Town?" Erza, looking a little green from the Magic Four-wheel Cart ride, asked of the blue cat. Cana didn't look much better and was looking at Happy with hope that they wouldn't have to use the vehicle all the way there.

"Aye, but I used up a lot of my magic already. I won't be able to fly at max speed." Happy was already glowing golden as he increased in size.

"That's fine, buddy, just get us there as fast as you can." Natsu was already jumping up onto Happy's back. He helped Erza, Cana, and Lucy up as Gray climbed onto Happy's back on his own.

"Here we go!" Happy flapped his Aera Magic wings and ascended into the air. They headed for Clover Town as fast as they could fly.

-Clover Town-

"I hope we get there before Lullaby is used!" Lisanna worried for Master Makarov as she and Mira flew into sight of the small town. The sun was beginning to set and shadows were creeping across the land.

"Nothing seems to be wrong yet, we might be able to stop this Kageyama guy before anything happens." Mira tried to reassure her sister.

That proved to be the wrong thing to say, as a blast of intense Dark Magic suddenly burst from within the small forest surrounding the town. Windows rattled throughout the town and a deep, foreboding chill filled the air. A beam of darkness rose up from the forest and a truly massive Magic Circle covered the sky above the town. An unnatural darkness covered everything under the Magic Circle in the sky. From the forest rose a truly gargantuan monster. It was humanoid, at least in overall form, but its body appeared to be made from wood. There were various twisting branches that twined together to make up the creature's body. Three large holes were left in its torso along with one on each arm at what would have been the bicep of a human. It had wooden horns on its head, three large, glowing eyes and a large mouth.

"Fuck." Mira cursed at seeing the monster.

"I'M SO HUNGRY!" The large wooden monster exclaimed loudly. Its' very voice shook the air. "I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE! I'LL FEAST ON ALL OF YOUR SOULS!"

"No!" Lisanna blasted forward using a mix of her Animal Soul Takeover and her Fire Dragon Slayer Magic to rocket towards the wooden demon that appeared to be drawing in breath. "The flames of the left hand, the flames of the right hand…" Lisanna incanted as she dropped out of her Animal Soul: Bird and intensely hot fire surrounded her hands. "Bring them together." The two flames met as Lisanna brought her hands together. The yellow-orange flames merged and became a bright yellow-white. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Lisanna launched the large fireball at the wooden demon.

BOOM

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" Lullaby roared in agony as its head was rocked by the blast and its wooden body was charred black.

"Nice one Lisanna!" Mira grinned at her little sister. Using her Satan Soul Takeover, Mira formed a large blast of Dark Magic between her palms.

"WORTHLESS FOOD! DIE!" Lullaby opened its wooden maw and a dark purple light was seen before a beam of magic was launched at Mira.

"Evil Explosion!" Mira cast her own spell in response. The two attacks clashed, sending shockwaves through the area as the forces tried to overcome each other. With a resounding explosion the two spells stalemated and Mira tsked at the demon.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Lisanna expelled an incredible amount of flame from her mouth as she torched the root-like feet of the demon. The wood burst into flames that started to creep up the rest of the demon's body. The wood of its legs was quickly blackened and began to crack and buckle under the weight of the monster.

"STOP THAT!" Lullaby bellowed as it tried to stave off the dragon fire.

"Shut up." Mira stated coldly as she blurred into the three-eyed monster's sight. She shoved her hand into the demon's mouth and left an orb of pitch-black magic inside. With a quick flap of her wings she cleared an impressive amount of distance before completing her spell. "Soul Extinction!"

The pitch-black orb of magic in Lullaby's mouth pulsed once before detonating. The wooden demon's head exploded into sawdust, along with the upper half of its torso. The explosions of Dark Magic temporarily blotted out the setting sun, leaving all of Clover Town in darkness so deep that no light could be seen. The wind howled as all air was carried away from the epicenter by the shockwave. After a few moments the blast faded away and the broken form of Lullaby crashed into the ground.

-Happy, Natsu, Cana, Erza, Lucy, and Gray-

"What the hell is that thing?!" Lucy gaped at the huge wooden monster that was standing at the edge of Clover Town.

"Is that Lullaby?" Gray wondered in shock at seeing the demon. "I thought it was supposed to be a flute?!"

"Lisanna and Mira are there." Natsu smiled as he saw a massive blast of flames hit the wooden behemoth in the head.

The group watched on as Lullaby blasted a massive beam of magic towards a small floating dot. The dot in question released an equally powerful beam and the two struggled against each other for a moment. The stalemate came to an end with a resounding blast. Lucy could only gape at the level of power necessary for such a display.

"Figures Mira would get into a beam battle with it." Cana sighed at her 'Dragon Sister' and her habit of challenging power with power.

"Lisanna is destroying its footing." Erza noted the immense bonfire that had lit up underneath the towering, wooden demon.

"Holy shit…" Lucy's jaw dropped and her eyes widened as the demon's head exploded and a massive black explosion obscured their vision of the area.

"Brace yourselves!" Happy warned just as a shockwave of displaced air slammed into the group. The blue cat did everything he could to keep himself stable so that he wouldn't accidentally lose anyone. The winds whipping around him made it difficult, but Happy was a master Flyer! When the shockwave passed he corrected his path and stabilized himself again.

"Damn Mira, a little overboard don't you think?" Cana complained as she sat up again from all the turbulence.

"Take us down there, Happy." Natsu requested of his feline friend.

"Aye!" Happy began a slow descent towards the sight of the battle. He landed carefully at the edge of the blackened ground. Once everyone had jumped down off his back he glowed as he returned to his normal size.

"What are you all doing here?" Makarov questioned the group. He was surrounded by the other regional Guild Masters.

"Gramps, you're safe!" Natsu beamed at the old man.

"Master!" Erza and Gray smiled at Makarov and Erza pulled him into a hug. Unfortunately for the old man, she'd forgotten to un-equip her armor.

"Ow!" Makarov cried out as a dull thud rang out from his head impacting the redhead's armor.

"We were responding to a call from the Knight Squadron stationed in Oshibana, Master." Cana began to explain the situation as Mira and Lisanna walked out of the smoking ground that had been their battlefield against Lullaby.

"So this is Lullaby's normal form?" Mira questioned as she held up two ends of a snapped wooden flute. One end had a three-eyed skull on it that creeped out anyone that looked at it for more than a few seconds. There was just something inherently wrong about the item and it showed in the feelings it gave off.

"That was a demon from the Book of Zeref." Master Goldmine of Quatro Cerberus stated to the group as a whole. He was a slim man of average height, who appeared to be in his late fifties. His slightly squared face was covered in several wrinkles, most notably at the edges of his mouth, below his eyes and on his forehead. Despite his age, however, Goldmine kept his hair in a youthful style, almost reaching down to his shoulders in a straight cut. Covering the older man's eyes was a pair of sunglasses. He wore a witch hat with a spiked collar around the base that matched the one around his own neck. He wore a black t-shirt and matching black jeans to complete his look. "It's a form of Living Magic."

"Oh my, to think Black Mage Zeref's evil still lingers to this day, hundreds of years later." Bob, the Guild Master of Blue Pegasus lamented with his hand on his cheek. Bob was an elderly, bald, cross-dressing man. He was wearing a purple spaghetti-strap shirt accessorized with a gold and fuchsia hoop necklace, and a pair of vertical-striped pink and purple shorts. He completed his look with red lipstick and blush on each cheek.

"Demon? Living Magic?" Mira blinked at the information before a dark look overtook her beautiful face.

"Yes, the Black Mage's Living Magic creations reform even after they're defeated if given enough time. It's why they're usually sealed away." Goldmine explained only for everyone's heads to snap over to look at Mira when a dark purple-black magic surrounded the broken flute of Lullaby.

"Takeover!" Mira declared with a sharp look in her eyes, her own magic power flaring as she activated her Satan Soul Takeover. The broken flute quickly vanished under Mira's power and disappeared entirely. "Hmm, well that's different, not bad though." The platinum-haired young woman mused with her hand on her chin.

"Mira!" Makarov gaped at the poster girl for his guild. "What were you thinking?"

"It's just like any other demon or devil I defeat, Master." Mira gave him a rebellious smile. "I take them over and add their power to my collection. I don't think I'll be using this one too much though. It seems its' only real ability is to kill with its cursed song." In a flash of dark light Mira's form changed. Her voluptuous body was covered in a dark-green leotard that was itself covered in wood and leaves. Jagged spikes of wood in the shape of a crown formed on her head and her arms were covered by wooden gauntlets. Her feet were covered in high-heeled wooden boots with vines spiraling up them. "Satan Soul: Lullaby." She opened her dark purple-pink eyes and looked over her new form.

"Damn…" Natsu blinked as he looked at Mira's new Takeover Form.

"It really fits your Dragon Slayer Magic." Cana grinned at Mira who was still examining her form.

"It really does." Erza smiled at the comparison.

"I think it looks good." Lisanna beamed at her sister.

"Great, Mira's gotten even stronger again." Gray sighed as he almost physically felt the gap between them widen a little bit more. "I will catch up, damn it." He clenched his fist in determination.

"Oh my, wherever did your shirt go young man?" Bob teased Gray with a giggle.

"What?" Gray looked down to find that, indeed, his shirt was missing and he was walking around bare-chested. "When did this happen?"

"You look great, Mira." Lucy gave her opinion on the new form.

"You think so, Lucy~?" Mira gave the Celestial Spirit Mage a devious grin as she gave a gravure-worthy pose to her Mates.

She also almost gave every one of the old Guild Master men a heart attack at the same time.

"Easy Mira." Makarov tried to rein the rebellious model in, while also covering his own nosebleed with a tissue. "You're going to end up putting some of these men in the hospital at this rate."

"Not to break up this celebration." One of the other old Guild Masters spoke up after getting himself under control. "But who is going to pay for the damage done to the town from all of the explosions and the fire that scorched this area?"

"Uh… Well, about that…" Makarov gulped and pulled at the collar of his shirt. "I'll leave the Dark Mage I subdued to you! Happy, fly us out of here!"

"Sorry Master, I'm almost out of magic." Happy informed with a smile as he raised his right paw into the air.

"Ah!" Makarov gasped as the hand of Goldmine landed on his left shoulder while the hand of Bob gripped onto his right shoulder.

"You weren't about to stick us with the bill, were you Makarov?" Goldmine questioned with a frown.

"Even leaving us to turn in the Dark Mage boy and explain the situation to the Rune Knights, for shame Makarov." Bob giggled as he kept a solid grip on Makarov.

Looking over, the group from the Guild did notice a black-haired man, tied up and unconscious over by the Guild Master meeting hall door. Natsu realized that this must be Kageyama, the one Erigor told him about. He didn't seem like much, no threat to Makarov at any rate.

"You'll be staying right here until we can get this whole situation sorted out, Makarov." One of the other Guild Masters spoke up.

"Hear, hear!" Another old man raised his cane in agreement.

"No…" Makarov sagged in Bob and Goldmine's hold as they dragged him back towards the meeting hall.

"Should we stay too?" Lucy questioned with concern.

"We probably should." Lisanna nodded with a gentle smile. "For Master's sake."

"I guess." Mira sighed as she turned back into her normal state.

"If they've got some nice wine then I won't mind too much." Cana chuckled as she took Natsu's hand in hers and started leading him towards the building.

"Yes, yes, you youngsters are welcome." A few of the old men cheered as they saw the number of lovely young ladies in attendance.

"I get the feeling there's an ulterior motive here." Gray sighed with a shake of his head.

"I could eat." Natsu grinned as his free hand snagged Lisanna's. The platinum-haired girl smiled brightly at her Mate.

"Speaking of food…" Erza gave Natsu puppy-dog eyes. She clearly wanted some of his Magic.

"Ooh! Me too, me too!" Lisanna bounced at the thought of eating Natsu's fire.

"We-we're not going to get in trouble for all of this, right?" Lucy looked at the scorched ground and wondered if this would all be covered by their response to the Eisenwald Incident.

"If it happens, it happens." Natsu laughed it off and Lucy couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. She couldn't stop it when she saw that smile and heard Natsu laugh.

"Come on, Lucy!" Cana put her arm around the blonde's shoulders with a wide smile. "Let's eat and drink these old perverts out of house and home!"

"Cana…" Lucy giggled behind her hand as they all entered the meeting hall together.

-End Chapter-